Applied called FCVD a ''game changer.'' Some analysts were not as impressed, however. Here's what another analyst said about the technology:

Dean Freeman, an analyst with Gartner Inc., said: ''Prior to this launch, there have been two other flowable systems in the CVD marketplace: Lam Research's Integrity, which might be better known for its high-k applications, and the Trikon Technologies Flowfill system. Both systems had some success, but they were either before their time or didn't meet the application requirements for a variety of reasons.

Applied Materials is working to bring the pizzazz back to the semiconductor equipment industry. The star of the launch is a flowable CVD system designed to fill extremely high aspect ratios. The key messages were that this capability provides a lower cost of ownership, and the film has no carbon.

It appears that Applied Materials is off to a good start, with most of the major memory and foundry/logic companies having a tool in the evaluation stage. The question now is, Will the market respond and adopt the new tool, thus generating the payoff that has the potential to equal the product launch?''